Many liquid flow systems (water supply lines, sewage lines, and the like) and sewage pipe flow systems are so-called “dumb” systems, i.e. devoid of the ability to provide real-time information and parameters responsive to flow conditions in the relevant system, with no capabilities of communication and or reporting. In practice, monitoring of such liquid supply lines is performed mainly at a pump housing and at nearby liquid treatment equipment. This often results in that long pipelines, spread over hundreds of miles/kilometers, are not monitored by any systematic system.
Some valves are configured with sensing means. For example, US patent application publication US2010269632 discloses a fluid pressure control device that includes an actuator and a body configured to house the actuator. The body has an opening arranged to receive pressurized fluid. The fluid pressure control device additionally includes a pressure sensor incorporated into the body relative to the opening to sense fluid pressure and to generate an electrical signal indicative of the sensed pressure. Furthermore, the fluid pressure control device includes an integrated circuit incorporated into the body, and operatively connected to the pressure sensor. The integrated circuit includes a transceiver configured to communicate with an external device by transmitting the electrical signal indicative of the sensed fluid pressure to the external device and receiving a control signal from the external device. The integrated circuit additionally includes a driver configured to power the actuator in response to the control signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,292 discloses a meter register includes a register body having a rotatable drive shaft coupled thereto. A drive gear is attached to the drive shaft and at least one follower gear is rotatably attached to the register body and coupled to with the drive gear. An antenna is provided that includes a first electrically conductive sheet, a second electrically conductive sheet, and an axially extending leg electrically connected to the first electrically conductive sheet and the second electrically conductive sheet. A first electrically conductive sheet is spaced an axial distance away from the second electrically conductive sheet wherein at least a portion of the register body is sandwiched between the first electrically conductive sheet and the second electrically conductive sheet. The meter register can be attached to a meter body and, further, an auxiliary antenna can be attached to the meter register. Also disclosed is a method of operation of a utility measuring system that incorporates the above-described meter register.